Turn your digital data into dynamic graphics with this exciting, leading-edge cookbook. Packed with recipes and practical guidance it will quickly make you a proficient user of the D3 JavaScript library.

To debug a VMM installation, the logs are located in %ProgramData%\VMMLogs, and you can use the CMTrace.exe tool to monitor the content of the files in real time, including SetupWizard.log and vmmServer.log.

VMM 2012 Architecture, VMM 2012 is a huge product upgrade, and there have been many improvements.

This article only covers the VMM upgrade.

If you have a previous version of System Center family components installed on your environment, make sure you follow the upgrade and installation. System Center 2012 R2 has some new components, in which the installation order is also critical. It is critical that you take the steps documented by Microsoft in Upgrade Sequencing for System Center 2012 R2 at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=328675 and use the following upgrade order:

Service Management Automation

Orchestrator

Service Manager

Data Protection Manager (DPM)

Operations Manager

Configuration Manager

Virtual Machine Manager (VMM)

App Controller

Service Provider Foundation

Windows Azure Pack for Windows Server

Service Bus Clouds

Windows Azure Pack

Service Reporting

Reviewing the upgrade options

This recipe will guide you through the upgrade options for VMM 2012 R2. Keep in mind that there is no direct upgrade path from VMM 2008 R2 to VMM 2012 R2.

How to do it...

Read through the following recommendations in order to upgrade your current VMM installation.

In-place upgrade from VMM 2008 R2 SP1 to VMM 2012

Use this method if your system meets the requirements for a VMM 2012 upgrade and you want to deploy it on the same server. The supported VMM version to upgrade from is VMM 2008 R2 SP1. If you need to upgrade VMM 2008 R2 to VMM 2008 R2 SP1, refer to http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=197099.

In addition, keep in mind that if you are running the SQL Server Express version, you will need to upgrade SQL Server to a fully supported version beforehand as the Express version is not supported in VMM 2012.

Once the system requirements are met and all of the prerequisites are installed, the upgrade process is straightforward. To follow the detailed recipe, refer to the Upgrading to VMM 2012 R2 recipe.

Upgrading from 2008 R2 SP1 to VMM 2012 on a different computer

Sometimes, you may not be able to do an in-place upgrade to VMM 2012 or even to VMM 2012 SP1. In this case, it is recommended that you use the following instructions:

Uninstall the current VMM that retains the database and then restore the database on a supported version of SQL Server.

Next, install the VMM 2012 prerequisites on a new server (or on the same server, as long it meets the hardware and OS requirements).

Finally, install VMM 2012, providing the retained database information on the Database configuration dialog, and the VMM setup will upgrade the database. When the install process is finished, upgrade the Hyper-V hosts with the latest VMM agents.

The following figure illustrates the upgrade process from VMM 2008 R2 SP1 to VMM 2012:

When performing an upgrade from VMM 2008 R2 SP1 with a local VMM database to a different server, the encrypted data will not be preserved as the encryption keys are stored locally. The same rule applies when upgrading from VMM 2012 to VMM 2012 SP1 and from VMM 2012 SP1 to VMM 2012 R2 and not using Distributed Key Management (DKM) in VMM 2012.

Upgrading from VMM 2012 to VMM 2012 SP1

To upgrade to VMM 2012 SP1, you should already have VMM 2012 up and running. VMM 2012 SP1 requires a Windows Server 2012 and Windows ADK 8.0. If planning an in-place upgrade, back up the VMM database; uninstall VMM 2012 and App Controller (if applicable), retaining the database; perform an OS upgrade; and then install VMM 2012 SP1 and App Controller.

Upgrading from VMM 2012 SP1 to VMM 2012 R2

To upgrade to VMM 2012 R2, you should already have VMM 2012 SP1 up and running. VMM 2012 R2 requires minimum Windows Server 2012 as the OS (Windows 2012 R2 is recommended) and Windows ADK 8.1. If planning an in-place upgrade, back up the VMM database; uninstall VMM 2012 SP1 and App Controller (if applicable), retaining the database; perform an OS upgrade; and then install VMM 2012 R2 and App Controller.

If you have Virtual Server 2005 R2 or an unsupported ESXi version running and have not removed these hosts before the upgrade, they will be removed automatically during the upgrade process.

VMware ESX and vCenter: For VMM 2012, the supported versions of VMware are from ESXi 3.5 to ESXi 4.1 and vCenter 4.1. For VMM 2012 SP1/R2, the supported VMware versions are from ESXi 4.1 to ESXi 5.1, and vCenter 4.1 to 5.0.

SQL Server Express: This is not supported since VMM 2012. A full version is required.

Performance and Resource Optimization (PRO): The PRO configurations are not retained during an upgrade to VMM 2012. If you have an Operations Manager (SCOM) integration configured, it will be removed during the upgrade process. Once the upgrade process is finished, you can integrate SCOM with VMM.

Library server: Since VMM 2012, VMM does not support a library server on Windows Server 2003. If you have it running and continue with the upgrade, you will not be able to use it. To use the same library server in VMM 2012, move it to a server running a supported OS before starting the upgrade.

Choosing a service account and DKM settings during an upgrade: During an upgrade to VMM 2012, on the Configure service account and distributed key management page of the setup, you are required to create a VMM service account (preferably a domain account) and choose whether you want to use DKM to store the encryption keys in Active Directory (AD).

Make sure to log on with the same account that was used during the VMM 2008 R2 installation: This needs to be done because, in some situations after the upgrade, the encrypted data (for example, the passwords in the templates) may not be available depending on the selected VMM service account, and you will be required to re-enter it manually.

For the service account, you can use either the Local System account or a domain account: This is the recommended option, but when deploying a highly available VMM management server, the only option available is a domain account.

Note that DKM is not available with the versions prior to VMM 2012.

Upgrading to a highly available VMM 2012: If you're thinking of upgrading to a High Available (HA) VMM, consider the following:

Failover Cluster: You must deploy the failover cluster before starting the upgrade.

VMM database: You cannot deploy the SQL Server for the VMM database on highly available VMM management servers. If you plan on upgrading the current VMM Server to an HA VMM, you need to first move the database to another server. As a best practice, it is recommended that you have the SQL Server cluster separated from the VMM cluster.

Library server: In a production or High Available environment, you need to consider all of the VMM components to be High Available as well, and not only the VMM management server. After upgrading to an HA VMM management server, it is recommended, as a best practice, that you relocate the VMM library to a clustered file server. In order to keep the custom fields and properties of the saved VMs, deploy those VMs to a host and save them to a new VMM 2012 library.

VMM Self-Service Portal: This is not supported since VMM 2012 SP1. It is recommended that you install System Center App Controller instead.

How it works...

There are two methods to upgrade to VMM 2012 from VMM 2008 R2 SP1: an in-place upgrade and upgrading to another server. Before starting, review the initial steps and the VMM 2012 prerequisites and perform a full backup of the VMM database.

Uninstall VMM 2008 R2 SP1 (retaining the data) and restore the VMM database to another SQL Server running a supported version. During the installation, point to that database in order to have it upgraded. After the upgrade is finished, upgrade the host agents.

VMM will be rolled back automatically in the event of a failure during the upgrade process and reverted to its original installation/configuration.

There's more...

The names of the VMM services have been changed in VMM 2012. If you have any applications or scripts that refer to these service names, update them accordingly as shown in the following table:

Checking the VMM system requirements and preparing for the upgrade

This recipe will guide you through the steps required to check if your current VMM 2008 R2 SP1 installation meets the requirements for an upgrade to VMM 2012. The recipe will also help you with the initial steps that you need to carry out to prepare the environment for a VMM 2012 in-place upgrade.

Getting ready

First, you need to know that upgrades from the Beta versions and the versions prior to VMM 2008 R2 SP1 are not supported.

Confirm that your system meets the requirements for the installation.

A direct upgrade from VMM 2008 R2 SP1 to VMM 2012 R2 is not supported. You need to first upgrade to VMM 2012.

How to do it...

Carry out the following steps to check if your environment meets the system requirements, and to perform the initial steps for an in-place upgrade to VMM 2012:

Remove the integration of SCOM with VMM.

Remove the integration of VMM with VMware vCenter.

Wait for the completion of all of the jobs running in VMM.

Close the VMM console, the VMM command shell, and the VMM Self-Service Portal.

Navigate to Control Panel | Programs | Programs and Features and select Windows Automated Installation Kit.

Click on Uninstall and then follow the wizard to uninstall the program.

Click on Yes to confirm, then click on Finish.

Restart the server.

Checking whether Windows Remote Management (WinRM) is working

It is a prerequisite to have the WinRM service running and set to Automatic. Perform the following steps for assistance with this:

In the Services console (services.msc), locate and select the Windows Remote Management (WS-Management) service. If Status is not showing as Started and/or Startup Type is showing as Manual, change the settings by right-clicking on the service and then clicking on Properties. This is shown in the following screenshot:

In the Properties dialog box, change the Startup Type to Automatic, click on Start to initiate the service, and then click on OK.

How it works...

If your VMM 2008 R2 does not have the SP1 update applied to it, start by applying it for it to be supported for the upgrade to VMM 2012. If you are planning to do an in-place upgrade to VMM 2012 SP1 and running Windows Server 2008 R2, you need to carry this out in the following two phases:

Upgrade from VMM 2008 R2 SP1 to VMM 2012: Carry out a VMM database backup, remove VMM 2008 R2 SP1 (choosing to retain the data), and then during the VMM 2012 installation, provide the previously saved database. VMM 2012 will upgrade the database during the installation.

Upgrade from VMM 2012 to VMM 2012 SP1: As VMM 2012 SP1 requires Windows Server 2012, first run an in-place upgrade of the OS to Windows Server 2012 (refer to Installing Windows 2012 at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj134246.aspx), install the prerequisites, and then carry out the upgrade from VMM 2012 to VMM 2012 SP1.

Upgrade from VMM 2012 SP1 to VMM 2012 R2: As Windows 2012 R2 is recommended for VMM 2012 R2, first run an in-place upgrade of the OS to Windows Server 2012 R2 (refer to Installing Windows 2012 at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj134246.aspx), install the prerequisites, and then carry out the upgrade from VMM 2012 SP1 to VMM 2012 R2.

During the upgrade process, if you did not install the Command Line Utilities for SQL Server beforehand, a warning will be shown during the prerequisites check phase. Although you can proceed without installing these utilities, it is not recommended as they are required to perform some management tasks.

The Windows Remote Management (WS-Management) service must be started and set to automatic before the upgrade is started; otherwise, an error will appear during the prerequisites check.

There's more...

SQL Server Command Line Utilities (for the supported and installed version of SQL)

Microsoft SQL Server Native Client

Upgrading to VMM 2012 R2

This recipe will guide you through the tasks required to upgrade VMM 2008 R2 SP1 to VMM 2012, showcasing the possible options and actions. It will then highlight the upgrade path to VMM 2012 R2.

To upgrade from VMM 2012 to 2012 R2, refer to the Upgrading from VMM 2012 SP1 to VMM 2012 R2 section in the Reviewing the upgrade options recipe.

Getting ready

Go through the Checking the VMM system requirements and preparing for the upgrade recipe after deciding the upgrade method (an in-place upgrade or upgrade to another server), and make sure you've installed all of the prerequisites.

If you're planning an in-place upgrade of VMM 2008 R2 SP1 running on a server with an OS other than the supported version, first upgrade the OS and then carry out the steps to upgrade to VMM 2012, as described in this recipe.

How to do it...

To upgrade to VMM 2012 R2 from VMM 2008 R2, you first need to carry out the following steps:

On the VMM 2008 R2 SP1 console, click on General in the Administration view. Next, click on Back up Virtual Machine Manager in the Actions pane. All of these are depicted in the following screenshot:

In the Virtual Machine Manager Backup dialog box, type in the path for the destination folder of the backup file. The folder must not be a root directory, and it must be accessible to the SQL Server database.

Take note of the backup location as we will need it later during the VMM 2012 upgrade.

If you're doing an in-place upgrade and running a full version of SQL Server, go directly to step 7.

If you're upgrading to another server or running SQL Server Express, uninstall SCVMM 2008 R2 SP1, remove all of the components, and choose Retain Database during the removal of the SCVMM 2008 R2 SP1 Server service.

If you're running SQL Server 2005 Express Edition, do the following:

Click on Start, and in the Search programs and files box, or in the Run window, type in services.msc and press Enter. Stop the SQL Server (MICROSOFT$VMM$) service.

Navigate to Control Panel | Programs | Programs and Features, select Microsoft SQL Server 2005, and then click on Uninstall, as shown in the following screenshot:

On the Component Selection page, select the Remove SQL Server 2005 instance components checkbox and also the Workstation Components checkbox.

On the confirmation page, click on Finish to complete the uninstall process.

In Add or Remove Programs, select Microsoft SQL Native Client and then click on Remove.

In the confirmation dialog box, click on Yes. Install a full version of SQL Server (it is recommended that you install it on another server).

Restore the VMM database backup to SQL Server. To do this, open SQL Server Management Studio and select Restore Database. On the Specify Backup window, click on Add and navigate to C:\backup. Enter VirtualManagerDB as the new name. Select Restore and click on OK. On successful restoration, a pop up will be displayed. Click on OK and close SQL Server Management Studio.

Browse to the installation media and double-click on setup.exe.

On the main setup page, click on Install.

Click on Yes to confirm the upgrade to VMM 2012 as shown in the following screenshot:

On the Features to be upgraded page, confirm that VMM management and VMM console are selected and click on Next.

On the Product registration information page, enter the VMM product key and then click on Next (if you don't provide a product key, VMM 2012 will be installed as a trial version).

On the Please read this license agreement page, tick the I have read, understood, and agree with the terms of the license agreement checkbox and click on Next.

On the Join the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP)... page, choose either Yes or No and click on Next.

On the Microsoft Update page, select On (recommended) to use Microsoft Update and click on Next.

On the Installation location page, provide the path for the installation and then click on Next.

My recommendation is that you use the OS partition (C:) only for the operating system. It is recommended that you place the VMM program files on a separate drive.

On the Database Configuration page, specify the name in the Server name field of the SQL Server and the Instance name field, for example, MSSQLSERVER.

Select Existing database and choose VirtualManagerDB (or whichever name the restored database has) from the drop-down menu, as shown in the following screenshot:

Click on Next, and then click on Yes when you get the The selected database is created by an older version of Virtual Machine Manager. Do you want to upgrade it? message, as shown in the following screenshot:

On the Configure service account and distributed key management page (shown in the next screenshot), select the account for Virtual Machine Manager Service.

If your selection is Domain Account, type in the username and domain in the domain\user format, enter the password, and click on Next.

You will not be able to change the account after the VMM installation is complete as this is not supported.

In the Distributed Key Management section, select Store my keys in Active Directory if you decide to use DKM (recommended approach):

On the Port configuration page, leave the default port numbers unchanged or provide a unique value for each feature, then click on Next.

Plan and document the ports before choosing them as you will not be able to change them again; it would require reinstalling VMM.

You might find certain issues listed on the page that says Upgrade compatibility report. In this case, you can either click on Next to proceed with the upgrade or click on Cancel to cancel the upgrade and resolve the issues.

On the Installation summary page, click on Install and then on Close to finish.

How it works...

Just like all upgrade processes, the VMM upgrade process requires planning. Start by confirming that the current server/VM meets the system requirements for VMM 2012.

Decide the upgrade method you wish to use between the in-place upgrade and upgrading to another server. An in-place upgrade will not be successful if the database version is not supported.

Back up the current VMM database. If you're running SQL Express Edition, you will need to uninstall VMM 2008 R2 SP1, retaining the data. You will then need to install a fully supported SQL version, restore the VMM database, and then start the VMM 2012 upgrade process.

If you are running a small VMM 2012 installation, you can install SQL on the same server as long it is not an HA VMM.

Start the VMM 2012 installer and carry out the upgrade steps, reviewing and paying special attention to the database and DKM configuration and confirming your options in all of the upgrade dialogs. At the end of the process, open the VMM console to confirm the upgrade and update the agent hosts to VMM 2012.

During the migration process, if the database is not compatible, the following pop-up dialog box (that shows an error) will appear:

There's more...

Now, let's talk about the VMM 2012 SP1/R2 upgrade and other VMM components.

Upgrading to VMM 2012 SP1 or VMM 2012 R2

If you are running VMM 2012, you can upgrade to VMM 2012 SP1. As VMM 2012 SP1 requires Windows Server 2012, you will need to upgrade the OS beforehand.

If you are running VMM 2012 SP1, you can upgrade to VMM 2012 R2. As VMM 2012 R2 requires minimum Windows Server 2012, you don't need to upgrade the OS beforehand, although I recommend that you upgrade the OS to Windows Server 2012 R2.

You can follow the steps for either VMM 2012 to VMM 2012 SP1 or VMM 2012 SP1 to VMM 2012 R2

Make sure you take a backup of the VMM database. Next, I would recommend that you uninstall VMM 2012, retaining the database, followed by the installation of the VMM 2012 SP1/R2 prerequisites.

Proceed with the VMM 2012 SP1/R2 installation using the same database.

Upgrading a VMM console

Close VMM Administrator Console and VMM Command Shell (if open), and then pick one of the following options:

Option 1: An in-place upgrade

Option 2: The uninstallation of the VMM 2008 R2 SP1 console

If you picked option 1, carry out the following steps:

Browse to the installation media and run the setup file.

On the main setup page, click on Install.

Go through the installation steps.

If you picked option 2, carry out the following steps:

In Control Panel | Programs | Programs and Features, click on Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 Administrator Console and then on Uninstall.

On the confirmation page, click on Uninstall.

Browse to the VMM 2012 media and double-click on the setup file to run it.

On the main setup page, click on Install.

Go through the installation steps.

Upgrading the VMM Self-Service Portal

As VMM 2012 SP1/R2 does not support the Self-Service Portal anymore, I strongly recommend the removal of the Self-Service Portal and the installation of System Center App Controller instead.

Uninstalling the VMM Self-Service Portal

To uninstall the VMM Self-Service Portal, carry out the following steps:

In Control Panel\Programs\Programs and Features, click on Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 Self-Service Portal and then on Uninstall.

On the confirmation page, click on Uninstall.

See also

The Reassociating hosts after upgrading recipe

The Updating the VMM agents recipe

The Performing other post-upgrade tasks recipe

Reassociating hosts after upgrading

After upgrading to a new version of VMM, you will need to reassociate the Hyper-V hosts. This recipe will guide you through the steps required to do so.

How to do it...

To reassociate hosts and library servers, carry out the following steps after you have upgraded VMM:

In the Fabric workspace on the VMM console, expand Servers. Under Servers, expand All Hosts. In the Hosts pane, right-click on the column header and select Agent Status.

If a host needs to be reassociated, the Host Status column will display Needs Attention and the Agent Status column will display Access Denied.

Select the host(s) to reassociate (use the Shift or the Ctrl key if you need to select multiple hosts), then right-click on the host(s), and click on Reassociate.

In the Reassociate Agent dialog box, type in the account name and password.

Click on OK. The Agent Status column will display Reassociating.

After the host has been reassociated successfully, it will display Responding.

On the Hosts tab in the ribbon, click on Refresh. The Host Status will display OK.

How it works...

After upgrading to VMM 2012, you will need to reassociate the Hyper-V servers and VMM library servers with VMM. If a host needs to be reassociated, the Host Status column will exhibit Needs Attention and the Agent Status column will exhibit Access Denied.

Library agents are treated in the same way that host agents are, and therefore, the same procedure needs to be followed for them as well. Reassociate the VMM library server using the same steps. To view a list of the VMM library servers, in the Fabric workspace, expand Servers and then click on Library Servers.

After reassociation, all the agents will display the status, Update Needed.

There's more...

DMZ and other untrusted domain hosts will display an Access Denied state. They can't be reassociated; they will need to be removed and re-added to the VMM 2012 management.

See also

The Updating the VMM agents recipe

The Performing other post-upgrade tasks recipe

Updating the VMM agents

After upgrading to a new version of VMM, you will also need to update the VMM agents running on the Hyper-V server hosts. This recipe will guide you through the steps to do so.

How to do it...

To update the VMM agent of a host, carry out the following steps after upgrading:

In the Fabric workspace on the VMM console, expand Servers and then go to All Hosts. In the Hosts pane, right-click on the column header and select Agent Status.

On the Hosts tab in the ribbon, click on Refresh.

If a host requires the VMM agent to be updated, it will display Needs Attention in the Host Status column and Upgrade Available in the Agent Version Status column.

To update the VMM agent, select and right-click on the host and then click on Update Agent.

In the Update Agent dialog box, type in the user credentials and click on OK.

The Agent Version Status column will exhibit Upgrading, which will then change to Up-to-date once the update process has been completed successfully.

On the Hosts tab in the ribbon, click on Refresh. The Host Status column for the host will display OK.

Use the same steps as the ones used before to update the VMM agent on a VMM library server. To view a list of the VMM library servers, in the Fabric workspace, expand Servers and then click on Library Servers.

How it works...

After upgrading to VMM 2012, you are required to update the VMM agent on the Hyper-V hosts and VMM library servers. Although this process does not require immediate action after the upgrade (as the previous VMM agent versions are supported by VMM 2012), take into account that the previous versions do not provide the functionalities that the new VMM agent does. The following is a list of the older versions of the VMM agent supported by VMM 2012:

VMM 2008 R2 SP1 (2.0.4521.0)

VMM 2008 R2 QFE4 (2.0.4275.0)

VMM 2008 R2 QFE3 (2.0.4273.0)

VMM 2008 R2 (2.0.4271.0)

See also

The Reassociating hosts after upgrading recipe

The Performing other post-upgrade tasks recipe

Performing other post-upgrade tasks

There are some others tasks that need to be performed after you have upgraded to VMM 2012. This recipe will guide you through them.

How to do it...

To update a VM template, carry out the following steps after you have upgraded VMM:

On the VMM console, in the Library workspace, expand Templates and click on VM Templates.

In the Templates pane, right-click on the VM template to be updated and select Properties.

On the Hardware Configuration page, configure the following:

VLAN ID: Configure this if you have previously configured it in a hardware profile.

In VMM 2012, the VLAN ID will be resolved automatically based on the logical network specified when deploying a VM from a template.

Logical Network/VM Network: Ensure that the correct network is specified in the hardware profile.

How it works...

The VM template settings specifying the VHD file that contains the OS are not preserved during the VMM upgrade. After upgrading to VMM 2012 SP1/R2, you will have to update the upgraded VM templates to specify which VHD file contains the OS.

There's more...

There are a couple of other tasks that you need to perform if you had driver packages in the previous version.

Updating driver packages

After upgrading to VMM 2012, remove any previously added driver packages and then add them again so that they are correctly discovered. Use the following steps to add the driver packages to the library:

Locate a driver package, and create a folder in the VMM library share to store the drivers (for example, you could create a folder named Drivers).

Do not include other library resources (such as, ISO images, VHD/VHDX files, or scripts with a .inf extension) in this folder, else it will not be discovered by the VMM library for indexing.

Copy the driver package to a folder within this folder; that is, create a separate subfolder for every driver package.

In the Library workspace on the VMM console, expand Library Servers in the Library pane. Select and right-click on the new folder (for example, Drivers), and then click on Refresh to update the display and show the newly created folder.

Be careful when you delete an INF driver package from a VMM library folder as the entire folder will be deleted.

Relocating the VMM Library

If you're upgrading to an HA VMM management server, the best practice is to relocate the VMM library to a cluster file server, create a new VMM library, and move the resources. Carry out the following steps to import the physical resources:

On the VMM console, in the Library workspace, click on Import Physical Resource on the Home tab and choose one of the following:

Add a custom resource to import a folder and its contents. If you select a folder with a .cr extension, it will be imported as a custom resource package. Without a .cr extension, only the supported file types will show up in the VMM library.

You can use Windows Explorer to access the VMM library share in order to access all the files in the folder (if your account has the requisite access rights).

Add resource to import the file(s) of a supported type from another library location.

Under Select library server and destination for the imported resources, click on Browse.

Select the library server, library share, and folder location (optional), and click on OK and then on Import.

Summary

Thus we have learned how to review the upgrade options, check the VMM system requirements and prepare for the upgrade, upgrade to VMM 2012 R2, reassociate hosts after upgrading, update the VMM agents, and perform other post-upgrade tasks.

Alerts & Offers

Series & Level

We understand your time is important. Uniquely amongst the major publishers, we seek to develop and publish the broadest range of learning and information products on each technology. Every Packt product delivers a specific learning pathway, broadly defined by the Series type. This structured approach enables you to select the pathway which best suits your knowledge level, learning style and task objectives.

Learning

As a new user, these step-by-step tutorial guides will give you all the practical skills necessary to become competent and efficient.

Beginner's Guide

Friendly, informal tutorials that provide a practical introduction using examples, activities, and challenges.

Essentials

Fast paced, concentrated introductions showing the quickest way to put the tool to work in the real world.

Cookbook

A collection of practical self-contained recipes that all users of the technology will find useful for building more powerful and reliable systems.

Blueprints

Guides you through the most common types of project you'll encounter, giving you end-to-end guidance on how to build your specific solution quickly and reliably.

Mastering

Take your skills to the next level with advanced tutorials that will give you confidence to master the tool's most powerful features.

Starting

Accessible to readers adopting the topic, these titles get you into the tool or technology so that you can become an effective user.

Progressing

Building on core skills you already have, these titles share solutions and expertise so you become a highly productive power user.